Opening sequence of Scream (1996)

During the opening sequence we see the title 'Scream' this appears in the centre of the screen and turns blood red when the non-diegetic asynchronous sound appears, this is of a woman screaming frantically. The background is black which makes the red writing stand out there is suddenly a transition which takes us to the next scene were we then see a close up of a telephone. The screaming then fades out and we hear the telephone ringing.

We are then introduced to what we assume is the main character; we are introduced to her through a medium close up. We see that she is in a very nice, bright house. When she answer's the phone we hear a man on the other end. His voice is very mysterious and husky. As soon as she puts the phone down thinking that he had the wrong number the phone rings straight back, the camera then zooms in on her face, which indicates that there is something wrong.

When she puts the phone down for the second time and the audience realizes that he is up to something the camera then cuts to outside the house, we see the house through a long, establishing shot. This automatically makes the audience think that he is somewhere around or near the house. When she is making popcorn the phone then suddenly rings again, they speak for a while this time about various subjects he then asks her what her name is, she asks why and he replies ' because i want to know who i am looking at’.

The camera zooms onto her face to show her facial expression, she looks very scared and confused. He then denies that he said it and claims he told her he wanted to know who he's talking to. She then hangs up the phone when he told her not too, he then becomes nasty and starts shouting at her, he then starts threatening her, Drew Barrymore's character then starts running frantically through the house locking all of the doors. The non-diegetic music is very fast paced and urgent, this creates tension in the scene. When on the phone Drew Barrymore’s character tells the man her boyfriend is going to be annoyed with him, the camera focuses only on her face and slowly zooms in when she realizes that her boyfriend is in the garden, the camera zooms in to capture her facial expression. When he tells her to turn on the patio lights the non diegetic then becomes very prominent when she realizes her fate is going to be the same as hers.